ML Khattar to stake claim to form Government today in Haryana

Incumbent Chief Minister and BJP leader Manoharlal Khattar will stake claim to form Government in Haryana on Saturday.

Incumbent Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is likely to be elected the BJP legislative party leader at a meeting in Chandigarh today and will then stake claim before the Governor to form the government.

Mr Chautala is likely to be the deputy Chief Minister. The 31-year-old leader said his party believed the alliance was necessary for stability in Haryana.

“The BJP will form the government in Haryana in partnership with Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janata Party (JJP),” Union Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah announced on Friday.

"Keeping in mind the mandate of the people, leaders of BJP and JJP have decided that the two parties will form a government in Haryana together. The Chief Minister will be from the BJP and the deputy chief minister will be from JJP," Amit Shah announced at a news briefing, flanked by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Kahttar and Dushyant Chautala.

The announcement came at the end of a meeting at Mr Shah's residence between the two sides where the agreement was finally reached. Haryana's ruling BJP, which emerged as the largest party with 40 seats and needed six MLAs for a majority, had been focusing on its pursuit of eight independent MLAs, among them the highly controversial Gopal Kanda.

But amid a growing backlash over Kanda, who has a criminal record and is accused of abetting the suicide in 2012 of a woman who worked for his aviation company, the BJP finally decided to team up with Dushyant Chautala whose JJP won 10 seats.

The Congress too had reportedly reached out to the 31-year-old as the votes were being counted and the party seemed to be doing much better than its expectations. But as the Congress ended up with 31 of Haryana's 90 seats, it was clear that just the JJP's support will not be enough for the Congress to form government.